Taiwan’s NT$3 trillion (US$107.9 billion) semiconductor industry has been aggressively recruiting talent this year, with its demand for manpower in the second quarter rising more than 44 percent from a year earlier, according to online job bank 104.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In its white paper on the semiconductor industry’s workforce, the job bank said Taiwan-based semiconductor companies averaged 27,701 job openings per month in the April-June period, the most in six and a half years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That was an increase of 44.4 percent compared to the second quarter of 2020 and was the fourth consecutive quarter in which the figure rose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The job bank said that while the global economy has been hurt by COVID-19, the semiconductor industry has benefited from strong demand for emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, 5G applications and the Internet of Things, and continued to grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The booming stay-at-home economy, including the rising popularity of online learning and remote work, have also boosted demand for semiconductors, driving the need for more manpower, the job bank said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Within the semiconductor industry, the IC manufacturing sector saw the monthly average of its job openings in the second quarter grow 55.3 percent from a year earlier, compared to 51.2 percent for the IC packaging and testing sector and 40.8 percent for the IC design sector, the job bank said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The job bank said IC engineers accounted for about 55 percent of the job openings in the semiconductor industry advertised per month on average.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite the growing demand, the job bank said, the average monthly wage in the semiconductor industry fell NT$195 (US$7.01) or 0.4 percent from a year earlier to NT$52,483 in the second quarter, the second highest, trailing the computer\/consumer electronics industry’s NT$54,640.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The IC design segment offered an average monthly wage of NT$67,834, compared with NT$56,190 in the IC manufacturing segment, and NT$47,014 in the IC packaging and testing segment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The average pay, including bonuses, in the local semiconductor industry was NT$1.7 million, lower than the NT$2 million to NT$3.5 million seen in the United States, Singapore and Japan, the job bank said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n